How to Create MySQL Database Clusters

You can create a MySQL database cluster at any time from the Create menu by selecting Databases. This takes you to the Create a Database page.

In the create menu, click Databases to open the database cluster creation page. This is where you choose your database cluster’s configuration, like the number and size of nodes and the datacenter region.

Choose a database engine

In the Choose a database engine section, choose MySQL.

We currently support MySQL 8.

Choose a cluster configuration

In the Choose a cluster configuration section, you specify the number and size of the database nodes. The combined monthly cost of the database nodes is displayed to the right with the hourly cost underneath.

You can increase the size of database nodes after creation, but because of data integrity risks, you cannot downsize them.

You can add up to one standby node to database clusters. The smallest node size (1GB-RAM-1-vCPU) cannot be configured with a standby node. All other node sizes support standby nodes, which you can configure now or add later. Learn more about high availability and failover for managed databases.

Choose a datacenter

In the Choose a datacenter section, select the region for your database cluster.

For the best performance, create your database in the same region as your Droplets. Regions where you have Droplets display text underneath reading X Droplets in this region. Hover over the text to see the names of Droplets in that region.

Finalize and Create

In the last section, Finalize and Create, you choose the name for the cluster, the project to add it to, and any tags you want to use.

There are two subheaders in this section:

Choose a unique database cluster name. You can accept the automatically-generated name for the database or choose a custom name. Names must be between 3 - 63 characters long and consist only of alphanumeric characters and dashes.

Select project. Optionally, you can add the cluster to a different project. You can also click the Add Tags text in this section to tag the cluster.

When you’re ready, click the Create a Database Cluster button.

Clusters typically take five minutes or more to provision, but you can complete important configuration tasks such as restricting inbound connections while you wait.